


Please Don't Hate Me

by LostInQueue



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben's in love, Confrontation, Confusion, Cowboys, F/M, Fear, Fluff, Gen, Gift, HEA, Living in memories, Mild Injuries, Ranching, Rey is too, Sex, Sexual Confusion, Slow Burn, Stallion - Freeform, Stripping, Tresspassing, assless chaps, awww, cowgirls, farming, lives change, montana, naked cuddles, natural gas explosion, out drinking, oxidation of natural gas, palomino, scared horses, shotgun chaps, stealing a horse, streaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-08-20 00:56:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20219137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostInQueue/pseuds/LostInQueue
Summary: Ben Solo takes his job seriously, respecting the land and it's schedule while working on Mr. Calrissian's farm. That is, until Poe convinces him that a night out would be good for him.What could go wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bunilicious](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunilicious/gifts).

> I originally had a number count for the chapters, but as I'm going I'm finding keeping it at three is far harder than I initially thought. :D
> 
> Also this is for the prompt bunilicious submitted about Ben wearing assless leather chaps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EE I'm so excited to share this moodboard bunilicious gifted this story. <3 <3 Thank you so much! It's so lovely!

[](https://imgbb.com/)

Every summer for as long as Ben Solo can remember, Mr. Calrissian took in volunteers from the local school to help on his farm. If someone told him years ago that he would wind up here in the heart of Montana, he would have laughed in their face. Fully out of college with a degree that mildly covered exactly half of what he’s learned on the land, Ben returned to the farm that welcomed him all that time ago. 

Mr. Calrissian welcomed Ben back with open arms, grinning from ear to ear as he always had about a year ago. He’d taken on duties meant for early risers like himself, making sure to have it all done within a timely manner because just like school, the farm ran on a schedule. Ben didn’t need to be told twice, but the guy he hired recently for extra help with herding and raising of cattle never seemed to get the memo. Poe never seemed to get with the program. The guy was more of a master manipulator with his supposed bouts of narcolepsy. He had even thrown Ben himself for a loop when he passed out in the field, winking once, as if to signal to Ben that he was fine and just looking for some shut eye. 

Poe, Ben thought, was not a good fit. 

It took the man about nine months to figure out how to get along, doing as he was asked and fulfilling his chores the right way before Ben was able to lay off. The moment he did, Poe became friendlier. The two began to get along. It was refreshing, Ben thought…

Until he didn’t.

Poe, being the night-owl he was decided it was time to get Ben Solo off the farm or better still off the clock. The man just couldn’t get over the fact that he never went out. The guy needed a girl, or a guy if that was what he was into, and a few drinks… just a night out where they were just being two dudes off of the ranch. 

It took a lot of convincing, but Ben finally caved, allowing Poe to take him for one drink, which quickly became two… which then became more than just a night out with his ranch buddy.

___

Sunrises in Montana are beautiful. 

Rey’s always thought so at least. The woman has always been up before dawn, tending to her own set of chores for Unkar Plutt’s farm. She took on being his farmhand when she found out the man had been ill a few years back. It was solely out of the goodness of her heart that she stayed around though. The man was moody even though he’d gotten better, he still held onto the mental stigma that his cancer could return which would put him back on a leash so to speak, tied to an oxygen tank. It wasn’t a life to live for that farmer, and he would let everyone know it. 

Unkar never smoked so the cause of his leukemia baffled him. Several times he had Rey search the land for natural gas upon hearing both the wealth in the event that he could sell it and secondly have something to blame for his bout with cancer in the first place. The man had been told that it could have an affect on him after the fact but there were no facts backing those claims, just one angry recipient of an illness he shouldn’t have gotten in the first place.

Lucky for Rey, there was nothing of the sort under his grounds at least. She didn’t exactly need to be blown up upon finding it if one was overlooked. Each morning, for the sake of the old man, she went out to check the land, so she could, with finality for the day, tell him there was no such fortune waiting for him that day. 

Rey saddled up her white and bronze speckled palomino BeBe and head out for the morning’s scout watching the sky change as she went. A brilliant gold line peeked up over the lip of the mountain range out to the west which signaled that it was nearly time to head back. As it crept higher, lighting the grazing ground she scanned the area stopping on two oddly shaped animals out in the field.

She swore to the maker himself that if it was that mangy half a pack of coyotes, she chased down last week looking for an easy pick again, she wouldn’t hesitate to let BeBe trample them. Serves the little bastards right, she thinks. 

Rey’s careful on her way over to the odd-looking forms in the grass. She didn’t need a reason to startle them if they were said wild dogs. But as she makes her way closer she notices that they’re two, extremely dirty, large men. Neither of which BeBe needed to carry on his back, that didn’t seem fair. What did seem right was to care for these strange people that wound up on Plutt’s land without him knowing. The last thing she needed was him getting down her throat about missing this and then blaming her for never really searching for his supposed buried wealth.

No, these people needed to come back to the barn where she could clean them up, or they could wake up on the way back and decide what they wanted to do for themselves on their own. For now, binding them by their ankles and pulling them in a trot back to the barn seems like her only option.

_____

Thankfully, whether by booze or naturally gifted sleeping, neither of the men wake up. 

She can’t thank the maker enough considering she didn’t exactly make a conscious effort to avoid cow pies, which had been cleaned for the most part the night before or presents BeBe decided to drop while dragging their sorry carcasses over the property. The smell of the both of them is outrageous in terms of that and the pungent smell of sweat and what she thinks is tequila would be enough to make her vomit had she been some city girl, but Rey was far from that. 

Tequila, she thinks, looking the two of them over before getting to work on removing their clothes. If tequila knocked them out, she pauses, just wait till they find out what Plutt will do to them once he finds them. 

The slightly smaller one had been easier than the big one. He wore a buttoned down blue jean shirt which she found interesting given the season making her wonder if he’s even from around here. Despite his odd choice in shirt, she found that he was a heavy enough sleeper where she could roll him over to remove his arms from his sleeves to successfully get the soiled garment off. He, unlike herself, didn’t wear an undershirt which made her cringe. No barrier… none at all… not that even an undershirt would make a difference here in what she dragged them through but for some reason she just can’t get past how uncomfortable opting out of a bare necessity would be. His boots, socks, belt and pants are far easier to remove than his shirt, but once their all balled up, she isn’t sure if she should take the man’s undergarments too. It seemed horrid to wash most of his clothes and leave bacteria from BeBe’s donation ground into the fabric there, so without further ado, she removed those too, then gulped when she needed to help the second, larger man out of his. 

Finally bare Rey makes a list of what she needs to do to make sure that the two are safe. They’ll need their clothes as soon as possible but at the very least she needs three hours to make sure they’re completely clean before offering the garments back to them. There was no telling what time they would be waking up either and, if she learned anything from the second one, men seem to run hot. Being that the morning sun wouldn’t heat the land just yet, Rey needed to find a way to keep the both of them sufficiently warm…

Before she realized what she was doing, she lifted the smaller one and draped him over the bigger one, praying softly that they did not hate her for this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you sooo much bunilicious for the beautiful mood board you made for this! I have t posted only because I’m having some internet issues. Hopefully it’ll be solved tomorrow and I can post it then 💖💖🥰🥰🤩🤩

As the light of the day starts to trickle through the large double doors, it finds its way over the cement floor, to where Rey left the men sprawled out over bails of hay she purposely spread for the two. Sure, she would get hell for this if Unkar ever went in the “back” barn now being used as holding pens. As far as she knew, he wouldn’t. The man rarely used the horses for getting around anymore, relying heavily on his ATV or better still, his truck. Though, the truck would take him all the way around the property instead of straight through it like the ATV, but… men and their machines. Rey rolls her eyes at this. Her last check on them that morning had been quick just to make sure they were alright and didn’t run. The very last thing she needed to deal with today was explaining why there were two streaking men wandering around the property. Maker, she didn’t need that hanging over her head.  
  
The very fact that the two of them were still out both impresses her and makes her nervous. Did they hit their heads? Or did she knock them out dragging them over to the stable? Maker, she did not mean to kill them… fear trickles through her body like the sun through the doors, making her swallow a little too hard. No. No, she reminds herself. They’re just passed out, breathing… breathing is good. Breathing means they aren’t dead… but knocked out and breathing means they may be a little longer than normal…  
  
Normal?  
  
This, is by no means, a normal occurrence to have two very naked men in Plutt’s stable.  
  
She has to go, she thinks.  
  
The sooner she leaves to clean their clothes, the sooner they could get going, the sooner she could get on with her day and forget this ever happened.  
  
___

As the sun rises, it creeps up the expanse of Poe’s bare back, warming him enough to move just slightly, stirring his extremities that hadn’t moved since early that morning, not that he knew of course. His arms feel just as heavy as his legs. Cool air at the base of his spine sends shivers up it, moving over his shoulders, cascading over his muscles down to his fingers before he stirs again. Warmth just below him calls him back to sleep. Deep, steady breathing calls him from his slumber though. Poe’s eyes barely open, lashes still crusty from sleep, he opts to just leave them closed thinking he must have had one hell of a night.  
  
He is with it enough to recognize a body beneath him. From the feel of her, being in this state, she’s thick, he smirks. Just his type, he thinks. The slightest thought of Ben has him near giggling that maybe, just maybe, if he got laid, Ben hooked up somewhere too. His hard length twitches against his mystery woman, feeling a little less confident in his initial assessment. His skin brushes against her feeling what he can only imagine is her...  
  
Maker, why won’t his eyes open?  
  
He feels around once more with it, surely, he’s still dreaming. There’s no way she has a package. Maybe that’s just her… clothes… yes because that makes so much sense to put between someone you just hooked up with. Whatever it is, Poe finds himself settling by. It’s warm, why not?  
  
Next to wander is his hand, feeling for hopefully an indication that he wasn’t hallucinating, but all that‘s there was a plain of warmth. It’s then when Poe’s memories betray him, flickering just slightly reminding him he did not in fact hook up with some girl. He remembers laughing with someone in a field somewhere where they finally started talking like normal men. They talked about goals they wanted to reach, finding love—something real like what Mr. Calrissian has, where they see themselves years from now… all of that “lets get to know each other stuff”.  
  
The night is still a blur for him but when he finally pries the crusty eye boogers from his lashes, Poe jumps up and back from the person under him like a frightened cat.  
  
The blood drains from his face in such an alarming rate he’s sure it’s also evaporated from his body too. Ben lays comfortably on ground, cradled in hay, as if he made the space for them. Never in Poe’s time on the farm did he think that Ben would have feelings for him in such a way to do…this.  
  
And where are his clothes?! Poe’s eyes dart around finding nothing but hay and horse stalls.  
  
It’s just a dream. Its just a dream, the voice in Poe’s head insisted but Poe himself isn’tso sure.  
  
And if it isn’t enough to think of that dream girl’s “clothes”, Poe finds himself praying that he didn’t snuggle his cock next to Ben’s, but as his eyes travel, and there’s nothing to even sort of pull himself back together, the hardest part seems to give.  
  
The warmth was nice.  
  
The warmth was nice?

What’s wrong with him?! 

Poe never dated on the regular and certainly wasn’t homophobic but never really saw himself with another man. Certainly not _Ben_!

Ah!   
  
Poe has to go. He has to leave. In a panic he searches for his clothes again, a little slower this time, finding only his boots. He can’t streak out here on someone else’s farm. Even Mr. Calrissian had been known to shoot at trespassers. The last thing he needed was being found only in his boots by who ever shot at him. The thought briefly crosses his mind that if he was dead, he wouldn’t be able to care, but the Dameron family wouldn’t live it down, and the thought of his mother seeing him like that was enough to make him search for a suitable cover.  
  
The slightest whiney behind him makes Poe turn to it finding first a very curious bronze and white palomino, then a burlap sack to the right of his stall.  
  
“Thanks buddy,” Poe manages, staggering over the hay stabbing the underside of his feet. It doesn’t phase him that the sack will do. It has to do…  
  
Maker save him from the words he keeps choosing.  
  
Poe takes one last glance to find anything he can use to make a clean break finding only the horse, saying those damned words again, “it’ll have to do…” 

Riding in general is hard. Poe grimaces when he thinks about it, but neither him nor the horse are ready for this. His boxers, at the very least, would have been ideal, but here he is trying desperately hard not to rip anything while riding this horse back to Mr. Calrissian’s.  
  
_____ 

The sound of blowing hay dragging across the floor is usually enough to wake Ben at home but here the door swinging hard against the doorframe is what does it. 

He sits up in a flash, noticing the surrounding scene.

Why is he sleeping in the barn?

Panic courses through his body feeling first the stabbing pain of the broken straw sticking into his back side, then the cool rush of his nerves leaving his body when he realizes he’s naked. No soon after did his blood start to boil again remembering Poe.

Poe must have done this. 

He can’t believe that the man would stoop so low as to get him so wasted he couldn’t remember how he got here in the first place. Which, he does another scan of the barn, noticing it does not belong to Mr. Calrissian. 

“This is just fantastic!” Ben whisper shouts. 

It’s then when it hits him, he’s not in a barn, he’s in a stable. While Mr. Calrissian owned a few stables, the man surely did not own this one. It was too old. The doors to the stalls were even painted—who paints those? They didn’t. Which means… he’s naked on someone else’s property.

His eyes dart to the windows, gauging what time it is… repeating to himself that he’s naked and trespassing in the middle of the day. Nothing, just nothing can possibly go right for him today can it? It couldn’t still be nighttime or dawn. How did he even sleep through it? he wonders.

Whatever the case, he needs to move. Hiding in the stable is bound to get him caught even if it is sheltering him from the unknown.

Ben gets up from the ground, brushing himself off as he goes. For an old stable, it’s certainly cleaned and well. If he wasn’t so concerned about being caught in his predicament, he would have been interested in finding out who’s it was to begin with. Checking every stall for any type of gear, granted pants would be ideal, Ben would certainly take just about anything to be able to leave this place with some of his dignity. Feeling like all hope was nearly lost, Ben makes it to the last stall finding chaps.

Thanking the Maker himself, Ben finds a pair of dark of frilly leather chaps. He’s not one to necessarily enjoy all the fringe or whatever the design interest had been to add the extra large silver studs down the legs, but right now, it doesn’t matter. Not even the obvious size difference the owner has to him is a problem. Whoever they belong to is bigger boned and shorter, hell, Ben promises himself, the guy could be four feet tall and it would still make a difference. Ben would wear them to get home. 

One leg and then the other finally covered start feeling the effects, warming him slightly until the front pulls up over his crotch, resting comfortably at his waist.

Ah, much better, Ben thinks. 

At least his member is hidden. And now he can move, maybe even make it back once he figures out where he is of course. That, he’ll need a moment for... out...side... Taking one last look, through the stalls and the nest he found himself in, Ben finds and fawns over his boots like they’ve been magically sent back to him by some ethereal being.

It’s when he goes to slide his first boot on that he notices just one more oddity of the day. It happens again the moment he puts on the other. Something was touching him... inside the chaps... 

What the hell is it now? 

Not one but both of his hands push under the waist band finding nothing but air around his cheeks, his warm hands cupping each soft globe replacing the heat that has been lost there all morning. 

All Ben can do is curse. 

_”Fuck my luck and these damned Assless-fucking-chaps!”_

Just then door swings open flooding the stables with light followed by a man’s voice that shouts over his cursing, “HEY! Those are mine!”

Shit!


	3. Chapter 3

Rey finds herself at the washing station an hour later taking the now sopping wet clothes from the washer to the drier, careful not to pop any buttons in during her efforts. The last thing she wants to do is have to sew anything. 

Rey is capable of everything… but sewing. There aren’t enough patients in her body to pick up a needle and thread in this woman’s body. 

And so, she’s extra delicate with each of the outfits, gently putting them into the drier as if she’d been stacking eggs. 

It’s ridiculous, she knows this, but she would see this through. The moment all garments are in she whistles for BeBe. 

No answer. 

Odd. 

Rey continues whistling, then clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth trying to call him like she always has. Her boy would trot over just like when he was still a colt. Rey smiles at the thought of him being her little guy but realizes he hasn’t come yet. 

“Artoo,” she clicks her tongue, signaling him instead. 

The grey stallion grazing in the field before her perks up, a front leg raises from the ground, pointing as if to ask if she really needed him. 

“C’mon love. Have to find BeBe,” she calls to him. 

Artoo shakes his head left and right throwing his dusty blonde mane side to side as if he was complaining. 

“He hasn’t come when I called. Please? I’m worried.”

Artoo steps forward, whinnying and snorting as he walks himself to the gate to kick it open. Once he does the two of them stop, staring at the distance hearing shots fired. Two to be exact, startling the herd which began charging off into the horizon. 

Rey starts running towards them, Artoo up beside her, his hooves stomping roughly into the ground below him, telling her he was ready to be mounted. It takes nothing more than a leap towards him, her hand lands firmly on his back, slinging her other leg around to rush off into the distance.

If she hadn’t had to remember those clothes, she would have taken his saddle off while he grazed but given their situation now, she’s damn thankful. 

Artoo is fast and strong. His gallop has been known to throw even her without a saddle. But Artoo knows not to be wild with her, not unless she asks for it, like now. 

She makes sharp calls to him, nudging him only once or twice in a direction depending on his response to the commotion. Otherwise, the two of them, well, three if she knew where BeBe was, have a hold on this land. 

Thick dust starts to churn through breathable air making it hard to corral them, so she makes a few more calls and tugs him back to circle around again when it’s safer for both of their lungs. 

____

The man called him a thief and didn’t even bother to listen to his fucked-up story that he didn’t even have all of the parts to yet. 

Ben’s hands cover his chest looking for any wounds after the shots were fired. He had no idea the man shot straight up and out of his own building. Isn’t he worried about leaks in a place that houses his animals?

Apparently not. 

To his relief Ben isn’t dead.

But he could be. 

At the command the man gives to turn around, Ben complies, slowly turning to Mr. Plutt.

Of all the farms he could have been on, Mr. Plutt’s is the absolute wrong one. The man’s hated him since he met him during Ben’s first year at Mr. Calrissian’s. To this day, he still doesn’t know what he did to earn Mr. Plutt’s distaste for him, but they are both men now. And what says “I’m a man” better than owning up to what he’s done?

Sure enough Mr. Plutt figured out that Ben has not only no doubt soiled his favorite shotgun chaps, but he’s getting ready to be lied to.

“I’m not stealing your chaps,” Ben starts, flatly telling him the truth.

“Really?” Mr. Plutt counters, “because it looks a lot like something else.”

Yes, it looks like a lot of things. Awful things that he would never dream of doing on his own. Fucking Poe, he would get his, he promises the Maker again. 

“Yes, sir it does.”

His response startles the both of them. 

“Honestly, I don’t know how I got here, why I’m,” Ben waves over himself so he doesn’t have to say it, “and I was looking to leave, but can have these cleaned for you or I can purchase new ones… or work these off…” he groans inwardly at his stupidity for offering that last one for both how it sounds and for the extra wok he offered to do.

Ben’s days are always full but fulfilling. He’s never really known anything else. Complaining about this work seems shallow, too, and so he never does it. 

“Work is fair. I’ll take six months of your time,” the man coughs when he says it.

“Six?!” Ben tries to keep himself from screaming his surprise.

Mr. Plutt’s face hardens, “Those were custom made. I was being fair when I offered six. Shall I raise it to nine, or twelve? I’m sure my other farmhand could use the help,” he sneers.

Ben nods, understanding what custom made meant out here. Everything is handmade here, making products expensive and especially made items significantly more expensive still. He couldn’t believe it while he was a kid. Being gifted a pair meant the recipient was well cared for by whoever gave them. Ben cringes wondering if this was a gift or if he purchased it for himself. 

“Whichever length of time is more ideal for you sir,” Ben relinquishes his disappointment, accepting nine months for good behavior. 

Is this jail?

“C’mon boy, it’s time to start repaying your debt,” Mr. Plutt says clapping him on the back with his large sweaty hand. 

“In… in this?” Ben asks nervously as they make their way to the door. “Out th-there?”

“Yep. I have some fields that need to be weeded and readied for seedin’,” the man pauses again, “and nothin’ that fits you. So, let’s go.”

The sound of thundering hooves startle, the two at the doorframe, a woman’s call has Ben swing his head to the right catching just a glimpse of her, steady on the back of a horse that shoots by them like lightning. She’s gone just as fast as she appeared. 

Who was that? he wonders as he stairs off into the direction she disappeared in. 

Didn’t he say something about another farmhand he would be helping? Was it her? That was clearly a woman, wasn’t it? She rides… expertly… Ben can’t help but shift a little in his –Plutt’s—pants… Maker he needs help… 

Dread sets in as the warmth of the day starts to bite at his skin. He’s going to burn. Actually, everything exposed is going to burn, he groans, this time… out loud… and far louder than he swore.

“Something the matter, Mr. Solo?” Mr. Plutt snickers. 

Ben can only press his lips into a thin line, promising with the shake of his head that there isn’t a damn thing wrong, because that man right there, could make it so much worse at the drop of a hat. 

___

“I can’t believe how much time that took, Artoo,” Rey shakes her head, leading him back to the house to drink. While he was preoccupied with slurping from the vessel outside, Rey returned to pull clothes from the drier, fold them, then place them in a brown bag from the local market, figuring the dirt hasn’t yet settled, they didn’t need to be given their clothes half soiled. The moment she has it all together, she leans over the table to pick up two green apples for her loyal friend and leads out the door with her things in tow. 

Making it back to the stable, Rey drops the package. 

The men are gone. 

Left without their clothes.

Her eyes rove over the floor where she left them, settling on BeBe’s saddle. 

He’s gone, Rey starts to sniffle. Her little guy, he’s gone. Soon after there’s a flash of anger to chase it, “THOSE MEN!” 

Rey promises to hunt them down as she makes her way out of the stable with the clothes still propped under her arm. 

It’s not long before she find’s Plutt’s truck. He’s on the other side of the farm, closest to the main road, which seems odd since he’s never really out there. 

“Hey…” Rey calls, seeing a man bending over… mooning her? “Hey!” she yells again, this time far louder than the last. 

Fringe on his chaps seem odd but she knew of men that liked that sort of thing so is she to judge? But this man was different. He wasn’t wearing any pants, in fact, when she squints, Rey notices he isn’t remotely wearing anything more than said chaps. 

Is this… Is this one of the guys she rescued this morning, out here… helping them?

As the man rises to full height, Rey can’t help but be stunned by his physique. She had been there this morning for the full show, but he wasn’t any form of conscious then… now… “oh,” she can’t help but let the nerve die on her lips. 

Crinkling the bag, a little harder between herself and her body calls the guy to look away from her eyes to the bag and then back to her. 

“Are you the reason I’m out here like this?” he shouts. 

Rey jumps slightly, blinking back the honesty that she wants to reply with, “Am I the reason? I did not tell you to trespass, Mister,” Rey pushes her finger into his face. “You’re lucky I didn’t let my horse trample the two of you this morning?”

“Lucky? I’m lucky? You know you can’t willingly do that, it’s called murder with the intent to kill,” Ben allows his height to talk for him. 

“Not if I thought you were a pack of coyotes –besides, trespassing is trespassing. You know the law. We’re allowed to shoot if you—”

“Yeah, yeah, sweetheart, are you done?” he tries to wave her off again. 

“No! Where’s your friend?”

The man looks shocked as to the very fact that she knows Poe. 

“What friend?” Ben growls. “I don’t see a friend, do you?”

“Okay, partner? Where’s your buddy, fella, whatever the two of you call each other,” Rey snarls. “One of you arseholes stole my horse—”

“Yeah? And someone stole my clothes—” Ben is silenced by a forceful shove, the familiar scratch of a brown paper bag and twine touching his skin, has him blowing out all of his air, erasing his words with it.

“Give me back my horse!” Rey cries, “You arseholes get taken care of and then steal from us!”

“I didn’t steel from you!” Ben does his best not to yell again but the wave of her hand matches the way that Plutt did it before with his eyes, and here he is again doing all he can to promise he didn’t steal her horse. 

“He’s a bronze and white palomino, answers to BeBe. He was born on this ranch and he’s my little guy. So, help me if anything happened to him…” 

Ben does his best to calm the rage pouring out of this woman, hoping that whatever she shoved at him is his clothes. Opening the bag, he finds it is. They’re … fresh… Is that what she meant by “took care of you”? His mind races around being found out on the land, wondering how much worse it could have been if she hadn’t found them. 

His hand reaches out before he can say anything of comfort or promises and she recoils. 

“Don’t touch me!” Rey pushes him away from her, “Tell me where my horse is before I call the cops!”

Ben staggers around promising he doesn’t know where the damn horse is, but then she starts counting and he panics… 

The very last thing he can think to do, while out of character for sure, is blame Poe because he simply deserves it.


	4. Chapter 4

Ben can’t help how jumpy he is around this girl. He doesn’t even know her name and she’s taken liberty to care for him and clean his clothes, which he’s thankful for… Never in his life has he been so humiliated. Okay, that’s not true, there was that one time in school, but that doesn’t really compare to this…This takes the cake, or pie, or something sweet, Ben’s eyes snap up to the back of her head where she’s been facing away from him while he redressed. That in it of itself wasn’t easy either. She left him in the field claiming those chaps were an important part of history and he was not to drop them in the mud or so help him he would find out just how bad his day could be.

She sure as hell has him wondering about this whole situation. Who is this mystery girl? Mr. Plutt didn’t have children. He was married but the whole town knew that she left when she did… that woman was a piece of work, that’s for sure. No one, not even cranky Mr. Plutt deserved that. But what about this girl? What was her deal?

“Y’done?” she called over her shoulder still giving him privacy, or hating him, he thinks.

“Y-yep,” Ben stutters, trying to put his final boot back on without letting the chaps even look like they could graze the ground.

“Let’s go then,” she turns briskly towards the driver’s side.

Ben looks up from his foot, back to the truck and notices she’s already hooked up a trailer. Fear sets in that he really doesn’t know if Poe has it, but the fucker does have information, and that was enough for the thirty-minute drive they were about to embark on.

Plutt has a significant amount of land which connected his dirt path of a road down to the main street. It was impressive to say the least, given the fact that he never really saw it before that is.

“This is a beautiful place,” Ben tried complementing the land and her work at the same time, but she wasn’t having it.

Who knows if she heard him or not?

Who knows if he actually said it out loud or not for that matter.

Ben swallows noticing the way she’s sitting, perfectly postured, her knuckles white while she grips the steering wheel. This could not get any worse.

No, it could, he reminds himself. If Poe isn’t responsible for this, then…

Ben shakes his head trying to stop his forward thinking.

Instead the pass lush green fields, now calm, grazing cattle sprinkled around the herd itself. The pasture rises and falls just slightly showing a watering hole sparkling off in the distance, then disappears from view when she makes a sharp left.

They’ve only got about five minutes to go before she gets him home when she stops abruptly. She leaves the keys in the engine, leaves the truck completely, rushing off to climb his fence. Ben fumbles with his seatbelt trying to get off to tell her not to, that they had to fix the wood there, but she was too fast, jumping the fence at the post.

“Wait!” Ben yells, then again to try to slow her down.

She’s gonna get shot at and it’s going to be all my fault… Ben worries, doing his best to catch up to her.

___

“BeBe! C’mon boy!” Rey calls, clicking her tongue and whistling for him in a rush.

Her boy perks up from where he’d been laying in the grass. BeBe makes his way to stand, trotting as he always has to her at her call.

That’s her boy!

Tears stream down her face as they near each other. Rey throws her arms around his neck, quietly sobbing onto his shoulder. Bebe, being the kind horse he’s always been, drops his head low, leaning it against her shoulder holding her to him as if to say it’s okay.

Rey sniffles, nodding against him as she pulls away, talking to him as they walk back to the trailer.

“You won’t believe the kind of day I had without you, BeBe,” she informs him.

“Hey! Hey you!” A man’s voice shouts behind them, but Rey simply ignores him. “You’re trespassing and I have the right to shoot—“

“POE!” the other man’s voice rings out by the fence, starting a screaming match about what happened last night.

The third time “Poe” yelled “What?!” had the other, “Ben” marching over to him to which Rey found no reason to stay. Who cares if they were going to tear each other apart? Maybe that’s what happened in the field and then they passed out? There were no marks...which meant that they were only built for show, or really crappy fighters. Whatever the case, Rey got what she came for and that’s what matters.

——-

Poe has been having a mental break down all day about finding himself on top of Ben Solo this morning. It’s been all he can think about all day. Nothing seemed to break him from it either. The warmth of the sun made him think about how they … snuggled… Poe cringes thinking about every question he had to answer about Ben’s whereabouts today too. Maker, he was going to hell if he had to lie to Mr. Calrissian one more time. Poe could feel it as if the fire in his soul could go out at the very thought of one. 

And now, Ben’s covering him with all of his weight. Part of him wants to struggle and the other is unsure where this is really going, willing to stay and find out. 

“What the hell, man!?” Ben yells in his face. 

Okay, he deserved that. He did leave without him, but he can’t help but want to know if that’s what he’s really yelling about, so he questions him instead. 

“What’d I do now?”

“What’d you do?” Ben presses Poe’s wrists into the ground harder before he gets up. “What’d you do? You stole that girl’s horse. Does that ring a bell?” Ben’s voice thunders through him. 

He doesn’t know. 

Maker, he doesn’t know… 

“I wasn’t going to keep it,” Poe complains, sitting up now in the tall grass.

“Then why steal it?” he seethes. 

“I-I had to. I was going to give it back. I just had to get back.”

“Back…” Ben repeats, blinking a few times, then turns back to Poe, tilting his head in disbelief. “You were there? Weren’t you?”

The silence is deafening. 

“Weren’t you??” Ben roars. 

Poe swallows, nodding his response. 

“Do you have any idea what I’ve been through? And you couldn’t just be responsible and help me out… no… fucking fled. FLED POE! You fucking left me there! Can you tell me what happened at least?”

Poe covers his face with one of his hands pulling it down in exasperation. He won’t like what Poe has to share and is almost positive he’s going to be punched in the face for this but what other choice does he have?

“I took you out to the bar… we got hammered and started talking about stuff under the stars… and then I don’t know what happened,” Poe rushes out. A chill comes over him knowing Ben needs more information, that he won’t stop until he gets all of it just like that one time about the tractor. “And then,” he swallows hard, shaking his head as if he could throw the words without being blamed for being the one saying them. “I, uh, I woke up naked, and uh, on… you…”

“That’s one hell of a lie, Poe, even for you,” Ben snarls. 

“No! It’s true! I swear to the Maker himself and on my Mom’s oven that I did! And we… touched…” his face shows both fear, disgust and pain at the same time, “swords.”

Poe swore on a lot of things but his mom’s oven. Her kitchen is sacred to their family and him most of all. Ben’s eyes widen at the mention of this making it hard for him to look Poe in the eye. 

“That,” Ben clears his throat, pointing at Poe, “That never… that never happened. I’m not—you’re not… it’s not happening, didn’t happen and won’t. Do you hear me?” Ben’s voice is far lower than a whisper now that he’s embarrassed by this new revelation. 

Is that why she kept telling him he had a partner or “friend” with him. Maker, help him, this day just can’t get any worse. 

Then he thinks of the clothes… Did she set that up? She had the nerve to be mad at them for stealing her horse, but she started this whole…thing. The more he thinks of the way Poe’s demeanor changed during their argument, how he just gave up, he wonders how she can even live with herself. 

Ben pinches the bridge of his nose, then closes his eyes before he explains his day so far. 

“So, you have to do the work of both farms? And see her again… Do you even know her name?” Poe asks. 

“After today, I’m not sure I want to.” Ben crosses and uncrosses his arms over his chest, uncomfortable by it all. 

Poe nods, unsure of what to say, so he doesn’t. 

“I’m just concerned about all of this extra time and how to go about telling Mr. Calrissian,” Ben explains. 

“Oh, don’t worry,” a deeper voice sounds from behind them, chuckling as he goes. 

“Mr. Calrissian,” Poe jumps. “I’m so sorry! I should have said something, but I really didn’t know what to say—”

The man just laughs, patting Poe as he passes the boys. 

“Her name’s Rey. She’s a real survivalist,” Ben catches the way that his voice seems to carry. 

“How do you know her?” Ben asks. 

“How else? Through her parents. ‘Came here for a summer or two, then things got hard for them,” he blinks back a thought. “Glad to know she’s still as fierce as she was back then. Tell ‘er I say hello when you go back, yeah?”

“You’re okay with this?” Ben can’t stop himself from asking.

“Yep, a man keeps to his word, a boy doesn’t,” Poe senses eyes on him and looks back at the grass around him. “But you’ll get your chance, Poe… no more lying. No more narc-lepsia… or whatever you call your naps. Just plain ole’ good ole’ fashioned work.”

Poe nods, “Yes, sir.”


	5. Chapter 5

Evening passes slowly. So, so slowly it’s nerve racking. Poe won’t stop looking at him. He’s caught the man a few times now, fully accepting the discomfort between them and because of it, he decides to cut his losses and go to bed before the sun fully sets. Ben’s nights usually ended under the stars. Something about them just made him feel like everything was right with the world, then and there, reminding people how small they really were, or at least he thought it did. It sure made him feel that way.

It’s not the case tonight.

Instead, Ben finds himself getting ready for bed, wondering what it took for Rey to take care of them and her chores. He frowns at the very fact that his clothes have never smelled quite as clean or felt quite as soft. He wonders what she did to them as he effortlessly unbuttoned his cuffs, one then the other fall open giving him freedom. Next he makes quick work of the buttons down his torso, removing it carefully as if it could disappear if he didn’t, leaving him in his undershirt, which was still just as comfortable to be in less the buttons. His belt buckle even glints in the low light in his room, she must have cleaned that too, he frowns again, undoing it so that it stayed in the loops. His thumbs hook his waist band pulling that down along with the leather of his belt. He doesn’t miss the guilt that pins him in place when he lets the lot drop to the floor either.

Ben’s been known for his cleanliness. That much is a fact. But it doesn’t stop him from practically diving after his clothes because of her kindness. Swatting at his pants as if they landed in dirt instead of on his floor, Ben walks them over to his armchair, hanging them over the back before settling in for the night.

He never used to have a problem sleeping, even with so much on his mind, the man could fall asleep and stay asleep. A train could run through his room and he’d still manage to sleep through it. Ben remembers how it was the main conversation while he was a kid. His mother used to brag and brag about that very fact like it was something special. While he wishes with all his might that he could just turn that on, he can’t. Getting rest, even after his fucked-up day, seems to be near impossible. That is, until his eyes roll back into his head and his dreams take over.

That’s another thing about Ben that he could never really get in on that dream conversation shit the kids would do at school. His mind and stress level we’re in check back then, never really having an issue with dreaming, as he never did. Not tonight though. Ben chases memories of the day, vivid enough to believe that he’s going through them again until he sees her horse galloping through the dust like she did in the middle of the day, leaving him in shock. What was it about that moment that he needed to see her or be seen? Even in those embarrassing conversation starters?

During the day, however, she never made eye contact with him, but now… right now while he’s still dreaming, she faces him, her eyes peering into his soul makes him feel fear. He wants to cower. He wants her forgiveness.  
Dust stirs around the two of them, erasing the space into darkness until all he can see are her eyes… and then she’s gone.

Ben wakes with a start looking out the window next to his bed, sucking in air as fast as he can. He didn’t sleep in. He’s fine.

Before he knows it, the man is dressed, grabbing his keys, black Stetson, the only one he enjoys wearing for two reasons. The first is he hates the way the lighter one’s collect his sweat from the day, while the other makes him feel like a target. Being as tall as he is makes him feel like a giant as it is, not needing any other reason to stick out, he decided to go with a darker hat earlier on in life. Besides, a darker Stetson makes better shade, he tells himself. Whether it’s true or not is anyone’s guess, but Ben believes it and that’s enough.

The moment he steps out the door, he hears Mr. Calrissian laugh through his well wishes, saying, “Good luck.”

If that wasn’t unnerving, Ben’s not sure what could be.

Oh, no, he knows exactly what could be. 

Rey not having or making the time to listen to his apology. What if she doesn’t accept it once he tells her? What will he do then? He has nine months to give Mr. Plutt for his accident yesterday morning. Nine whole months of seeing her. Can he last that long without talking to her like a civil person?

Ben cards his fingers through his hair wholeheartedly hoping it doesn’t come to that.

His chest tightens hoping she doesn’t hate him for this.

____

Rey’s mornings are always the same.

She walks off to summon BeBe, her best boy already ready for her whinnies happily when she pushes open the door.

“Up so soon?” she smiles at him, laughing heartily when he nods his head. “This is early, even for us, love. Are you sure you’re up for this? I can always ask Artoo.”

BeBe snorts in her face then looks away from her, his eyes behind him looking back at her as if she can’t see.

“Aw, no. Don’t be like that. You know I’m just looking out for you. Don’t’cha? You did have a big day and all—” she stops, startled by the door reopening.

Mr. Plutt is not an early riser these days. As much as he wants to be, it’s hard for him. She knows this, and so she hardens her features, bending her brow forward, clenching her teeth, getting ready for a fight if there needed to be one, of course. To her surprise, it’s “Ben”.

“What are you doing here?” she snarls, remembering his accusations from yesterday. “Planning on sleeping on our property again?”

Ben can feel it. She won’t be willing. This is going to be the hardest time of his life.

“I came to apologize,” he starts with. His mother didn’t raise a fool. Women like this, most liked it when there was no reason to apologize, but if one had to be done, it was nearly always the man’s job to show he’s a man by apologizing.

“I beg your pardon?” she asks tentatively. Rey can’t help but wonder what he thinks he’s apologizing for. Men in her life didn’t do such things without wanting to be rewarded. This one, no matter how good he looks, is not getting anything from her. Nothing she’s not willing to give that is.

“I’m sorry for yesterday. I shouldn’t have acted that way with you, it’s not what a gentleman does,” he adds.

He doesn’t miss how she relaxes, still fixing him with a hard look laced with confusion.

“And thank you for cleaning my clothes,” Ben begins to fidget, picking at his cuticles. “I wanted to ask, um, because neither of us know how I, we, uh got here. Um. Do you know how we wound up, um, here?”

Rey’s frown lessons as she figures out, he’s not here for much of anything else than answers.

“I found you two, like I said, and too care of you,” she says, filling him in on all of the specifics. “I couldn’t lift either of you, or so you were dragged from far out in the field. It seemed only right to clean up after.”

“And so, you?” Ben blushes hard, interrupted by the sound of her clearing her throat.

“Yes, that happened,” Rey answers.

“But, why?”

“Infection. I didn’t want to be the cause of anything drastic, being that you were dragged through manure…”

Ben groans, “You couldn’t go around?”

“Not when my horse is the reason for half of it,” she grimaces.

Ben’s eyes shoot over to catch BeBe’s. If horses could laugh, he is sure that bastard is laughing at him.

“Hey, it could have been worse, you know,” she perks up, letting BeBe out of his stall. His largeness seems to fill the space between them, making it harder to see his responses. “You could have been eaten.”

Ben can almost see the way she shrugs off the thought. Is she messing with him?

“We get a lot of wildlife out here mostly because we’re ranchers. Predators come around these parts looking to pick off food like they own the place. The watering hole is a big factor, luring all types of creatures, even people make their ways here,” she says, hinting at him and his friend.

Something about the way she says it, makes him need to clarify that he isn’t dating Poe, “Not that it’s a bad thing. I mean, dating a man, not that I ever, what I mean to say is… We’re not a thing, an item, that’s it. We’re not dating.”

“I didn’t say you were,” Rey replies, attaching BeBe’s saddle to him.

“But you said friend as if that’s what we are,” he retorts.

“Ben, what you do and who you like is your business. You don’t have to explain it to me,” she pats his shattered ego wondering how they even got onto such a subject.

Ben swallows at her words. Did she just…

“Listen, thanks for stopping by at this odd hour, but I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

“Leave? Wait… no.”

“What do you mean, no? This isn’t your farm and I stuck my neck out far enough for you last time. I’m not really looking to do it again, if you don’t mind,” she says, blowing out an exasperated sigh.

“Rey, I’m here to repay Mr. Plutt for wearing his chaps,” he says, noticing how Rey blushes at that. Was—did she enjoy seeing him like that? Why can’t he feel anything but nervous about it?

“So, that’s a real thing then, isn’t it?” she nods at herself. “You’ll have to excuse me, I thought you may have made it up.”

“What would I be gaining by lying?” Ben’s question is softer than all the rest. 

Is that a genuine answer? Rey wonders, leading BeBe towards the door Ben’s still standing by, calling for Artoo with a series of clicks. 

“Saddle up then cowboy. We have a long day ahead of us,” she says, leaving Ben in the stable with Artoo. 

The horse gives him the evil eye, turns, and leaves through the back door. 

This is going to be a long day...


	6. Chapter 6

It turns out that Artoo is a smart-ass horse.

Sure, he’s intelligent… like a dolphin… responding to them with their own language of clicks and whistles, but he can be downright cunning, gaining him the smartass title Ben is willing to give the beast.

His initial assessment is only half true, though.

It’s been five months already, leaving them in early December, experiencing their first of many things together, including snow. Ben’s lived in the state for most his life, finding Rey had been there for just about half of hers, he feels different this time around. What was usually a mess and truly dreaded became light and wonderful.

Their mornings stayed the same, walking the property to make sure the gas lines weren’t leaking, or new ones weren’t forming underfoot. As obnoxious as the task has been, Ben wouldn’t ever suggest a new task. This time with Rey opened his eyes to things he never knew he wanted. Her time and attention were obvious necessities he found releases for nightly but getting to ride alongside her instead of behind in a caravan had been the greatest moment of Ben’s life, second to nothing. Riding beside her opened up more. So much more.

Rey opened up about her life, hard truths she never felt strong enough to tell anyone, telling him more than she meant to. It settled deep within his gut, the need to reach out to her, to hold her in a way she felt like someone was there for her, even though they were mounted on their horses. His had cutting through the space between them felt natural. The more she waited made him feel like an idiot, but the second her cold hand touched his he held it, promising her he’d never let go.

Ben recalls the first time she invited him to stay at her cottage just across the street from Mr. Plutt’s, how she said the location is important, and even though she does a lot, he doesn’t want people living on his land. It made sense to her and so moving close was right back then. Her home, while small, fit as maybe a starter home, she still offered him to stay. That night she had started a fire in the fireplace, telling him it was of her favorite places in the house.

Her eyes were just as heated as the fire, welcoming, warm… to this day he still doesn’t know how he found the nerve to cross the room, let alone kiss her. It seemed to all happen so fast. His insides set ablaze the moment he unleashed his promise to her. Ben knew what he was promising, but for her to catch and hold him to it still baffles him.

He remembers how humiliating it was to be found all that time ago, what they went through to get here, and now to be in a relationship with that same woman. His fears have since been lost in the wind, the moment he’s in her presence, Ben knows he’s where he needs to be.

“I have a surprise for you,” he remembers her sweet, soft voice practically purr recently.

It had been just last week she surprised him with a brown bag tied with twine, similar to the one she shoved in his stomach months ago.

“What is it?” he replied, his voice far deeper than it had been the moment they passed the threshold of her front door.

Is love always this exciting? he remembers wondering.

Watching her lean her hip against the table to her side, her smart little smirk and crossed arms telling him she did, plays back in his mind. He loves that look so much that he smirks every time he thinks about it.

“What is it?” Ben reached for her instead of the bag. His hands at her waist, thumbs circling just under her jeans.

“Now, if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise now would, it?” she smiled, her cheeky, ‘I know something you don’t know’ smile. Rey’s arms wrapped around his neck, her body pressing languidly against his own is enough to make him see stars.

The man absolutely loved her forwardness, it was like she just knew what he was thinking. Maybe not all the time but most of it. Even then he had decided nothing in the bag could be as good as his girlfriend. Ben decided to try to give into her, worshiping Rey as he has… he’d get to the surprise later. But that time was different.

His body shivered the moment her body pressed harder against his, her arms going slack just enough to press her palms down the front of him. She knew him, knew what he liked, loved even. Her touch branded him, marking him as hers, always.

He felt strong and weak all in one, feeling the need to chase it, her. He’d hold her against him, searching for her lips, if he could latch, she’d forget about the damned bag. He’d be in control.

And yet, he’s not.

Her fingers finding his buttons, leading up his stomach to his chest until she’s released the last one, pushing his shirt up an over his shoulders. A slight bite at his skin from the chill in her home still nips at him, even now. The hot press of her lips at the column of his neck courses through him making his hips cant just slightly against the saddle.

It’s embarrassing out here, where Mr. Plutt could possibly see, he couldn’t possibly take her now. They’d be found and he’d probably be shot at, but he can’t help the way she’s always on his mind.

Ben’s memories pull him back down into the heat of their needs once more, reminding him where she likes to trail off to. Again, he tried to press his lips to hers, pulling her off of him to lock on, but went completely stiff the moment her fingertips traced the hard muscles of his torso down to his belt buckle. His own hands plunging into the rear of her jeans, cupping her ass just under her panties. Squeezing the soft skin gradually there always called to him in such a way. Her moans nearly always did him in too.

When she’d call out his name, he was sure he could come then, praying, of course, that he could make it through. He’d almost caught her lips the moment her mouth fell open to him, but even then she had the capability to dive back in, thumbing open his belt to drop his pants from him.

Blood pumped through his body hard and fast awakening his cock, quieting his ability to think, making his heart pound at a near panicked rate when she asked her to repeat herself.

“Try it on, Ben,” she sighed at his lips.

He remembers how his hand trembled, releasing it from Rey’s body feeling as if he was dying from the loss of contact.

“I got them just for you,” her lips brushed his, adding, “tell me how they fit?”

“Stay right here…” he said, leaning in again to reach her.

“I won’t go anywhere, Ben,” fuck she sounded like she was purring when she said it. His cock twitching at the sound.

Ben was sure he had a headache now, his eyes sore and body in a panic at the forced loss of her, but she wanted this, and so he would give it. He took the bag to the bathroom as she directed where he finally found out what had been in the bag. Rey had gotten him his very own shotgun chaps missing both the ass and the crotch, making him smile where it would have made him uncomfortable months ago. This, Ben knew, wasn’t a gag gift. It was well made, hand crafted for him. Darkly tanned, similar in color to his Stetson, ribbed in the thighs, where it mattered for warmth while riding, no fringe, or strange metal decorations down the sides of them either. The cool leather against his skin made him shiver, but they fit, perfectly.

It was simply the best gift anyone had ever given him. And Rey, well, Rey is more than anyone.

He remembers wanting to surprise her, reentering her space bare, less his new chaps…feeling the cool air hit his erection on the way out had been a challenge, feeling how it made him rethink his return. But fuck he was hard seeing the way she was sprawled out on her couch, her fingers parting her folds while her head rested against the arm.

“Fuck, you look good,” she moaned, calling him to her.

He could feel it deep within his bones, he’d always belong to her. His body quaked at the thought of knowing he loved her. The phrase danced at the tip of his tongue while the head of his cock leaked too. He crossed the room fast and sure, his extra accessory moving with him as if it was truly a part of him. He’d stammer ever so slightly when Rey’d make a surprised sound when the cool leather would slide against her hot skin.

“I need you,” she said, parting herself for him.

Ben was sure his heart stopped, but the moment her hand found his shaft, she pumped him once, then twice, slow and steadily, rubbing his tip through her folds, offering words of encouragement he never thought he’d need to hear.

They had been passionate before, made love all over her home but that night was all about chasing their needs. Ben saw stars when he bottomed out inside her with one continuous push until he could rub his stomach against her clit. Her legs found his sides while her arms flew up under his, placing her hands on his upper back to help lock him in against her body. He wondered if it was considered manly to whine at the feel of her pressed so hard against him, letting out a deep groan instead.

It was perfect and frustrating at the same time. Her couch was not only small, but narrow too, leaving him only two options to be able to chase her orgasms properly which he found himself doing before the thought even materialized into words.

“Ah!” she whaled, throwing her head back as he lifted her onto his lap. Curses from her pretty little lips spurred him on, driving into her at a punishing pace, his arm braced around her was of the last things he’d seen before she promised she was almost there.

Her orgasms always came crashing over him like a tidal wave. She was always so in tune with him that it seemed right to tell her at both of their releases.

“I love you,” he panted, the dining of white noise began to take over when his vision whited out, coming right after her.

Her warm lips met his pressing against them with a new softness he couldn’t remember experiencing quite like this.

“I love you, too,” she nodded against his cheek, cradling his head and shoulder as she did. “I love you, too...”

His memories are halted by a strange smell that wafts around, occurring to him that he should be vigilant now.

Somethings wrong.

Rey seems to smell it too and got ready to dismount when Ben hollers, “Rey! No!”


	7. Chapter 7

It all happens in slow motion. Rey feels, rather than sees the way Ben’s looking at her. He’s done it hundreds of times, his darkening eyes providing his playful warnings, but this feels different. More urgent. Her hair wafts around her as she looks back at him, anchoring her to them, his fear takes over.

Her boots land heavily next to BeBe’s side, falling unevenly in what should be far harder ground, given the recent snow. A rumbling beneath them gives way, making BeBe stomp his hooves around her nervously.

Rey turns back, noticing just how far away Ben had been from her.

“Stay back!” she shouts, slapping BeBe’s rear hard as the ground opens up, blasting dirt in a three foot radius high into the sky around her.

——

Ben fights the urge to cry, screaming for her as he kicks at Artoo’s side to make him go. The horse lunges forward on instinct, startled with the choice of Ben’s boot at his belly but bucks backward when another layer of dirt throws the snow covered land another couple feet into the air.

“Fuck!” Ben screams over the sound.

He’s not sure which is louder, the thunderous growling of moving land underfoot or his hammering heartbeat quieting his words of frustration in himself, perfectly laced with fear.

His inner most conscious prays that she isn’t gone. Ben’s lunges towards her, making his boots slip in the snow, which he has to physically resist beating the land over with his fists.

He needs to get to her, pull her from the chaos. Ben’s but a blink away, not even inches from her when the dirt swallows her whole.

Just like the first time he’d seen her, just like in his dreams, her eyes are the very last thing he sees. 

“NO!” Ben screams, his knees buckling with every step toward her. His whole body wants to let go, lay down with her, allow them their release from this horror together to be in a state of being that feels no pain. 

He’s not sure how but Artoo has come back around urging him back on his back, stomping wildly for his attention. Once on, he storms through the falling debris, trembling just so in the soft ground. It’s wrong, even Artoo knew, his whinnies getting louder, almost as if he started crying, the animal presses through. 

Being close enough to reach her, Ben stretches out his arm to scoop her up from the blast. It had been the most natural feeling, pulling her back to him. 

Ben fights the urge to cry one last time as he inspects her. Rey’s eyes roll around in her head under her eyelids, his love, she’s still alive!

He nervously looks around the land, tempting the earth beneath them racing off into danger after her horse too. If she was truly alright, he’s sure he would have trouble telling her that he picked her over her horse. 

BeBe’s story goes further back than being there when he was little, training him, and watching him grow. BeBe became family the moment she laid eyes on him, she just knew there was something special there. A connection… he felt it, when she told him that they had one. She’d been wrapped up underneath him, her hands in his hair, listening to her breathing steady when she told him what he meant to her. It had been one of the most important things he could have heard from her.

Ben promised he’d always listen… he’d always try and now he’s in the field with them chasing the last bit of her life she held on to because he failed her. Had he been paying attention, rather than imagining being with her while he wears his chaps, reveling in the way he stays remarkably warm, even in this weather, in these months, she would be okay. His love wouldn’t be hurt or in pain. It’s his fault, blame hangs heavily in the air, along with the potent smell of gas. 

“BEBE!” Ben calls, “BEBE!” Again his voice booms from him, carrying through the land, echoing off of trees in this sparse field. 

This time, BeBe calls back to him. His full galop slows on his approach, this of all times, being the first time the horse has ever listened to his call. It’s an emotional moment that he stuffs down deep. There is much to do. First being brining Rey to Mr. Plutt’s and tending to her wounds.

____

Back at Mr. Plutt’s Ben picks Rey up and carries her into his home. The man had some decency to get up out of his chair, watching in horror as he helped Rey out of her coat. 

Mr. Plutt doesn’t hesitate to call the ambulance, which alerts the police. Being early enough, they had been given enough units to mark off the troubled land, and further the investigation about whether or not this was a natural gas spring or if the ground had been soiled by a main break. Either way, the animals had to be relocated and so did they. 

Mr. Calrissian had offered to take half of the herd as he didn’t have quite the lot that Mr. Plutt did, nor does he do that type of farming. His ranged more on the side of growing crop, which was admittedly difficult without Ben handling most of the maintenance. Despite the trouble, he did his best to take on what he could allowing Ben time to sort out what has happened with Rey. He knew the man was in love. They spoke about it frequently enough and when he didn’t, it’s not like he could blame Ben, somethings aren’t shareable. 

Somethings are just as magical as what the two found in the other, and that, Mr. Calrissian could live with. 

Poe stepped up, as he has for the last few months Ben had been gone. It was no surprise they would need someone to help transport the herd. Splitting them was hard but they managed. The half that came with Poe, had been guided with the three men, Mr. Plutt in his truck, while Mr. Calrissian and Poe kept with them on horseback instead. The rest of them went to a neighbor with a larger plot on the other side of the street, not far from Rey’s.  
While all of this had been going on, Ben rushed around with the paramedics in a nervous tizzy. 

Rey’s skin had been saved by her jacket, and a good portion of her chaps, while damaged by the chemical oxidation which started the blast in the first place, slightly burning the backs of her legs and palms. Her hair, while singed, had to be buzzed so that the skin at the base of her skull could be treated too. But she’s safe, alive… looking at him quizzically when the final doctor had signed off on her discharge papers.

“I thought I told you to go,” she whispers, choking back a sob. 

Ben’s arm suffered the same treatment, gaining him bandages and a stack of papers for himself. 

“You did,” he replies. “But I couldn’t. You’re my whole world, Rey,” Ben watches her through his tear-filled eyes. “I couldn’t lose you. Not now… not then…”

The spread of her smile quickly turns downward remembering herself. Her body, her orders, not being in contact with anyone until the burns heal. Instead she drops her head as low as her skin will allow, sobbing through her admissions.

“I cant even hold you…”

“You’ve never dropped me, Rey. You’ve been holding me this whole time. I’ll hold you in my mind far beyond the end of time,” he says making her swallow. 

His words always had a significant meaning. He was always doing his best to communicate, even when he didn’t know how. Ben picked up the end of the roll of tape they used to apply gauze to her palms. He turned to her promising his life, his love, his every waking moment to her before slipping the roll onto her finger. 

Ben watches her finger play with the long stand in band, loving the way blush brightens her cheeks. He’s glad he can see it, given the way the hospital lights drown out most color. But he nearly dies when she calls it beautiful. The roll of tape clearly is not beautiful, and yet she’s keeping it on her finger where he was sure she would have taken it off by now. 

Her eyes are still wet when she looks up to him, promising as she does, “I love you too Ben Solo…so much.”

Ben watches her press her lips together and much like the language she has with her horses, he knew this was just for him, and so he leans in close, capturing her lips with hers. There he can promise the world to her, and that’s just what he does.

____

A month later, Mr. Plutt had finally gotten the payout for his land that the man had always been after. Paying for Rey’s bills barely made a dent in his wallet. The horses and livestock remained where they were, and Mr. Plutt found himself getting ready to move into a log cabin far off into the woods. Despite Rey’s efforts to get him to stay around, the man told her that it was for the best. 

“It’ll bring the peace I need before I move on from this life, Rey,” the man she worked for all this time, smiled fondly, looking at her engagement ring now, knowing full well she still had her original stored safely in her home. “Besides, you have a lot to look forward to and you don’t need a crotchety old man scuffing that up for you.”

Convincing him that she’d be there when he called or wanted to get out was just about as useless as trying to get him to believe her that she was fine and could start working again. 

Men, she thought at first, then quickly shook the thought from her mind. Her guys, her horses included, were always just looking out for her, and that was something she could live with… 

Even love…

… And Ben couldn’t agree more.


End file.
